A Liturgical Lesson From the Satanists, by Daniel B. Gallagher

By Daniel B. Gallagher, Crisis Magazine, April 1, 2025

Daniel B. Gallagher is a Lecturer in Literature and Philosophy at Ralston College. He previously served as Latin Secretary to Popes Benedict XVI and Francis at the Vatican.

Limiting the reception of Holy Communion to the tongue is not a matter of being “conservative.”

Three years ago, my wife and I received a stamped postcard in our mailbox inviting our children to participate in the newly-founded After School Satan Club at our public elementary school up the street. Thank God our kids were, and continue to be, homeschooled; but I was nonetheless more than mildly uncomfortable with the thought of a dozen kids—after having obtained their parents’ permission—attending the club’s ceremonies and playing in the same neighborhood as our children.

In retrospect, there is one thing I should have done right away. I should have met with our pastor and parish council (the church was just two blocks from the school) to plead that we immediately implement the following norm from the 2004 Instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum:

[S]pecial care should be taken to ensure that the host is consumed by the communicant in the presence of the minister, so that no one goes away carrying the Eucharistic species in his hand. If there is a risk of profanation, then Holy Communion should not be given in the hand to the faithful. (92) …

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